The 13 O/L Buddhism Paper I papers we have contain 36 questions on the Buddha's life (බුද්ධ චරිතය), more than on any other topic. It was asked in 12 of the 13 sittings, every one except 2025. The 2015 paper had the most, 7.
This page is Paper I (MCQ) only. Paper II is not included. It is not a full set of notes on the Buddha's life. The counts are the questions tagged බුද්ධ චරිතය. That is 36 of the 500 questions we hold.
Buddha's-life questions, year by year
The table runs from 2013 to 2025. The Buddha's-life column is questions tagged with that topic. A year that does not list it shows 0. The other column is every question on that paper. The year links to its own page.
| Year | Buddha's life | Questions on the paper |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 3 | 38 |
| 2014 | 6 | 38 |
| 2015 | 7 | 39 |
| 2016 | 1 | 37 |
| 2017 | 2 | 36 |
| 2018 | 1 | 39 |
| 2019 | 2 | 39 |
| 2020 | 1 | 39 |
| 2021 | 4 | 40 |
| 2022 | 6 | 38 |
| 2023 | 2 | 38 |
| 2024 | 1 | 39 |
| 2025 | 0 | 40 |
The neighbouring pair with the most questions is 2014 and 2015 (6 and 7). The next pair is 2021 and 2022 (4 and 6).
The last three papers have 2, 1 and 0. That is fewer than the pairs above. It does not say the next paper will ask this topic.
What these questions ask
These counts are the questions tagged බුද්ධ චරිතය. A question tagged as another topic is not included.
16 of the 36 ask who the person was. The question gives a saying or an occasion and asks which person it belongs with.
10 ask which place. They give the event and ask the place, or they give the places and ask which event those places belong to.
7 ask which week, which rains retreat, or which occasion.
3 ask which saying it was.
Learn the person together with the occasion. That advice is in the Buddha's-life section of the short notes.
How it compares with other topics
The order is by questions, not by sittings.
The Buddha's life is first by questions. It is not first by sittings. Asked in every one of the 13 sittings: බෞද්ධ කලාව, කර්මය and ධම්මපදය. Also asked in 12 sittings: පාරමිතා හා ජාතක කථා and පටිච්ච සමුප්පාදය.
| Topic | Questions | Sittings |
|---|---|---|
| බුද්ධ චරිතය | 36 | 12 of 13 |
| බෞද්ධ කලාව | 32 | 13 of 13 |
| කර්මය | 31 | 13 of 13 |
| පාරමිතා හා ජාතක කථා | 25 | 12 of 13 |
| ධර්ම සංගායනා | 24 | 11 of 13 |
Missing in 2025
The 2025 paper has no question tagged as the Buddha's life. There is no guarantee it will be asked in 2026. Leaving it out of revision is still a risk.
What that paper did test is in the 2025 O/L Buddhism paper analysis.
One worked question
This question is already public on the 2022 O/L Buddhism paper page. That page shows 5 questions from the sitting. The answer and the reason are under the question.
බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ විසින් සිත්කලු ස්ථාන ලෙස වර්ණනා කරන ලද නිග්‍රෝධය, චෝර ප්‍රපාතය, කාලශිලාව, සප්ප සොණ්ඩික පබ්භාරය හා තපෝදාරාමය වැනි ස්ථාන පිහිටියේ,
- Aවිශාලා මහනුවරයි.
- Bරජගහ නුවරයි.
- Cකුසිනාරා නුවරයි.
- Dසැවැත් නුවරයි.
How to revise it before 8 December 2026
Learn each person together with the occasion. That is the advice in the Buddha's-life section of the short notes.
All 36 questions tagged as the Buddha's life are in the journey. The journey starts at the beginning. Topic-only practice is not possible. Practise in the O/L Buddhism journey.
The weeks up to the exam are in the 8-week plan.
The 2026 O/L Buddhism paper is on Tuesday, 8 December 2026. It is held as Papers I and II together, 08:30 – 11:40. That date and time are the Department of Examinations time table, issued on 6 October 2026. The official copy is on doenets.lk. The day is written up in the paper-day guide.
What this page is not
Not full notes on the Buddha's life. It covers only what Paper I asked.
Not a prediction about the 2026 paper. There is no PDF.
You cannot practise a single year on its own, and you cannot practise a single topic on its own. The app starts the Buddhism journey from the beginning.
Paper I (MCQ) only. Paper II is not included. English medium is not here. The questions are the Sinhala-medium paper.
Wizder is not affiliated with the Department of Examinations. Every sitting is on the O/L Buddhism past papers page.
One more, to try yourself
බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ මහා මොග්ගල්ලාන සූත්‍රය දේශනා කළේ කුමන ස්ථානයේදී ද?
- Aවිශාලා මහනුවර වන පියසකදී
- Bගග්ගරා පොකුණ සමීපයේදී
- Cකලන්දක නිවාප නම් ස්ථානයේදී
- Dමහී ගංගා තීරය අසලදී
Common questions
How often is the Buddha's life asked in O/L Buddhism?
In 12 of the 13 sittings we have, with 36 questions in total, more than any other topic. Only the 2025 paper had none.
Will the Buddha's life be on the 2026 paper?
Nobody can say. It was missing in 2025, but it has the most questions of any topic, so leaving it out is a risk.
Where can I practise Buddha's-life past paper questions with answers?
The 2022 year page shows one with the answer and the reason. All 36 are in the Wizder app's Buddhism journey, free.
Is there a short-notes PDF for the Buddha's life?
No. Wizder has no PDFs. The short-notes post has one section on the Buddha's life, built from these past-paper questions.
Can I practise only Buddha's-life questions?
No. The app starts the Buddhism journey from the beginning and covers every paper from 2013 to 2025, so topic-only practice isn't possible.